In 1979, a young
Tom Lellis made his recording debut with
And in This Corner, which originally came out on Inner City and was, in 2002, reissued on CD by the Japanese P-Vine label.
Lellis still had some growing and developing to do in the late '70s and early '80s; even so, this is an enjoyable debut, and one hears
Lellis' potential on original material as well as interpretations of
Chick Corea's "Times Lie" and
Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." That
Porter standard is the only track that can honestly be described as an overdone warhorse; most of the songs that
Lellis interprets (when he isn't writing melodies of his own) have not been beaten to death. And you certainly can't accuse the singer of performing "Begin the Beguine" the same old way;
Lellis puts a surprisingly mysterious and haunting post-bop spin on the familiar standard. Nor can you accuse
Lellis of being lazy; he provides lyrics for
Keith Jarrett's "Lucky Southern" as well as
Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P." and
McCoy Tyner's "Man From Tangayika." One of the things that
Lellis (who is joined by bassist
Eddie Gomez and drummer
Jack DeJohnette, among others) brings to this post-bop session is a healthy appreciation of
Mark Murphy, whose post-bop recordings of the '60s and '70s are a major influence. As time passed,
Lellis continued to be influenced by
Murphy but became increasingly original -- again, the singer still had some growing and developing to do back in 1979. But all things considered,
And in This Corner is a decent, noteworthy debut. And at a time when so many jazz singers are content to offer knee-jerk versions of the same old standards done the same old way, one can't help but applaud the fact that
Lellis wrote most of the lyrics himself.